BENEGALBenegal, SHYAMShyam ( born Dec. December 14, 1934 , Hyderabad, Trimulgherry, Secunderabad, British India [now part of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India]leading director of non-mainstream nonmainstream Hindi cinema . A filmmaker committed to the cause of meaningful cinema, Benegal has been over the years more prolific than any other filmmaker of his class.Born to a professional photographer and nephew of the leading filmmaker Guru Dutt, Benegal began his professional life in Mumbai as an advertising filmmaker. Before his first feature, Ankur (1973), he made over 900 and one of its most prolific filmmakers. He is considered a founder of the movement of realistic and issue-based filmmaking known variously as New Indian cinema, New Wave Indian cinema, or parallel cinema.

Benegal’s father was a professional photographer originally from Karnataka, and, as a result, Benegal grew up speaking mostly Konkani and English and with an appreciation of the visual. He was a cousin of filmmaker Guru Dutt and an early admirer of Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Benegal graduated with a degree in economics from Nizam College—a constituent college of Osmania University in Hyderabad—where he started a film society. He began his professional life in Bombay (now Mumbai) working for an advertising agency; he started as a copywriter and soon advanced to filmmaker. In that position he made more than 900 commercials and advertising films and 11 corporate films as well as a number of documentaries. He taught at and twice (1980–83, 1989–92) served as chairman of the Film Institute of India (now the Film and Television Institute of India) in Pune.

The commercial success of Benegal’s first feature, Ankur(1974; “The Seedling”), a realistic drama set in rural Andhra Pradesh, marked the coming of age of the parallel Indian cinema movement, which had been initiated a few years earlier by Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome.His early films - Ankur, Nishant (1975), and Manthan (1976) - gave . Initiated by Ray, the movement found a prominent supporter in Indian filmmaker Mrinal Sen, whose first feature, Bhuvan Shome (1969; “Mr. Shome”), is one of the earliest examples of parallel cinema. Like Ankur, which introduced the actress Shabana Azmi (daughter of poet and lyricist Kaifi Azmi), Benegal’s other early films—including Nishant (1975; “Night’s End”), Manthan (1976; “The Churning”), and Bhumika (1977; “The Role)—gave Indian cinema a few of its best actors (most-accomplished actors, among them Naseeruddin Shah , Shabana Azmi, and Smita Patil).

Moving away from beyond rural settings, Benegal explored dramatic urban themes in his later the films Kalyug (19801981; “The Machine Age”), a modern and secularized interpretation of the Mahabharata; Junoon (1979; “The Obsession”), set in 1857, at the start of the Indian Mutiny against British rule; Mandi (1983; “The Marketplace”), concerning a brothel, its visitors, and its denizens; and Trikal (1985); “Past, Present, and Mandi (1983Future”), in an attempt to strike a balance between entertainment and social purpose. In addition to acclaimed documentaries on Jawaharlal Nehru and Satyajit Rayset in 1960s Goa. During the 1980s, in addition to making acclaimed documentaries on Ray (1982) and the first prime minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru (1983), Benegal made several television serials for Doordarshan (including Yatra, Katha Sagarsagar, Bharat Ek Khoj) during the mid-1980s, which was for him a period of a long, enforced sabbatical from filmmaking. After making a big screen comeback with Antarnaad (1992), Benegal returned to his old, active ways, directing feature films: Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1993), Mammo (1995and the 53-part Bharat ek khoj [“Discovery of India”]) for Doordarshan, a television media outlet of the Indian government. He returned to the big screen with Antarnaad (1991; “Inner Voice”).

Among his numerous later feature films are Suraj ka satvan ghoda (1993; The Seventh Horse of the Sun), Mammo (1994), Sardari Begum (19971996), Samar (19992000; Conflict), Hari-Bhari: Fertility(2000), ZubeidaZubeidaa(2001), and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005). A respected documentary filmmaker, Benegal’s most recent endeavour in direction was , and Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008). Benegal also continued to make documentaries, notably a cinematic study of the early years of Gandhi in South Africa: The Making of the Mahatma. He has also taught at the Film and Television Institute in Pune and continues to be an influential presence in Indian film circlesAmong many awards and honours, he received two of the highest civilian awards offered by the Indian government, the Padma Shri (1976) and the Padma Bushan (1991).